Mayor: Kansas City’s COVID school mask mandate to end this week as cases decline
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas announced he does not plan on extending the city’s mask mandate for schools, set to expire Thursday.
Some school districts already are dropping their mask rules, expecting the health order to end.
“With cases, hospitalizations, and deaths on a continued decline, it is time for government to focus on COVID-19 mitigation efforts such as regular testing and ensuring all have access to vaccines,” Lucas tweeted on Tuesday. “I do not intend to renew Kansas City’s mask mandate after its Feb. 17 expiration.”
Earlier this month, the City Council approved a two-week extension to the mandate, as schools were struggling to stay open due to COVID-related absences and severe staffing shortages. The mask mandate applies to visitors, staff and students over age 5 at schools in the city limits.
“We reimposed Kansas City’s K-12 mask mandate as Omicron swept through our community following the holiday season — protecting our students, teachers, and families during this spike — with the goal of getting Kansas City through a difficult moment. I am glad to see cases decline,” Lucas said in a tweet.
As COVID-19 cases fall from record highs this winter, several Kansas City area districts are rescinding their mask requirements.
The Independence school district dropped its mask mandate, starting this week. And officials in the North Kansas City district said that as they did not expect the city health order to be extended, masks would become optional starting Friday.
The city of North Kansas City’s mask order for schools remains in place until Feb. 26, so masks will continue to be required at the district’s Briarcliff Elementary and North Kansas City High School until then.
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt has celebrated districts, like Independence, dropping their mask mandates, in a series of tweets. Schmitt, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, last month filed lawsuits against Independence, North Kansas City, Kansas City Public Schools and several other districts, arguing they do not have the authority to enact mask mandates.
But many Kansas City area districts defended their COVID rules against the threats, arguing that state law gives school boards authority over rules in their own districts.
On the Kansas side, the Johnson County Board of Commissioners on Thursday is expected to consider ending its mask mandate, requiring face coverings in schools that serve students as old as sixth grade.
The Gardner Edgerton school district last week already decided to drop its mask mandate in all schools, starting Monday.
The Olathe school board also previously agreed to lift its mask mandate in all schools beginning on Friday, one day after the Johnson County Commission will meet.
On Monday, the Blue Valley school board agreed to immediately rescind its mask mandate. And the Shawnee Mission school board has agreed to make masks optional in middle and high schools, starting on Wednesday. If the county removes the mandate on Thursday, elementary schools will also become mask-optional.
